The Knights of Steel
by fistofdoom
Summary: This story is not going to be dropped, but it may take a little while before I devote a large amount of time to it due to school. However, I am currently working on remaking the third chap because it was deleted like everything on my comp a few months ago
1. KoS Chapter 00 In the Beginning

_A/N: Hi, and Yay! First fanfic! Well, short preview to it anyways. 6/16/10_

_Disclaimer: I don't own much, and Fallout/Fallout3 isn't one of those things I do own._

Chapter 0 – In the Beginning

In the beginning, things were simply unstable, what with the pointing of fingers, unpleasant remarks, vehement threats, and outlandish stupidity all around. A good way to negotiate the prevention of a war? Depends on how psychotic and blood thirsty you are, seeing how close to a nuclear holocaust you were getting. This was what they were warned about by quite a few people, but they were ignored, just like the typical hot headed and far too stubborn leaders that they were, giving not a thought towards someone who told them something that they didn't want to hear.

And how ignorant they were when they thought that they could go on like they did without repercussions. That nuclear holocaust came swiftly and without mercy.

Now, a great many years into the future, and not any great distance from the irradiated seat of power to the nation that once stood mighty yet arrogant on the near-top of the world, was a vault, Vault 101 to be exact, that had reached its construction's completion not too long before the first hunk of radioactive death landed. And in that vault nothing passed its door, in or out, since the moment it sealed shut. Not for anything, nor would it likely ever have, till the day when our hero, and many other peoples' besides, had the door cast to his side so that the sound of his steps could echo across the wasteland of the capitol, and where he could mold it to his ideals, through his creativeness, compassion, and sense of justice, for the better of everyone he deemed right and fit, everyone who has and may yet have to come to bear the harsh reality in front of them. The mighty capitol was and is a true wasteland, and after he ventured forth into it, he came to the conclusion that he wanted it to be something better.

"Damn it's bright."

A/N: This is going to be my first fanfic, so anything helpful would be greatly appreciated, though anything besides flames are welcome.

~Nao's fody-kun


	2. KoS Chapter 01 Party Time

_A/N: Hi and yay! First real chapter! 6/27/10_

_Disclaimer: I don't own much, and Fallout/Fallout3 isn't one of those things I do own._

Chapter 1 – Party Time

I turned around the corner and kept walking down the hall towards the cafeteria to get myself some grub, starving like I was. I walked up to the door and it slid open after a just noticable delay. "Surprise!" went a chorus of voices, along with a blinding amount of light. "Oh, no! We must have blinded the boy." The voice sounded like it belonged to Dad. Things started to appear not quite as bright, so I looked around, though I still had to squint. Yeah, there's dad… and Amata. I felt myself automatically start to smile, and didn't feel the inclination to continue on with my scan of the large room. I knew there are other people here but it doesn't matter quite as much after seeing that Amata is here; it'd be fun even only with her here.

Another chorus of voices sounded, "Happy Birthday," but this time not as synchronized. "Happy birthday son, I'm so proud to see you grow up to be such an outstanding lad, it was as if only yesterday I was teaching you how to walk. If only your mother was-" Dad was cut off. "Congratulations young man, you should know that this is a very important day for you, for here in the vault you are considered ready to take on your first responsibilities for the vault when you reach the age of ten. And as the Overseer I would like to present to you your very own PipBoy3000, you'll need to be somewhat familiar with it to be ready before your first work assignment beginning tomorrow," said the Overseer with a not-quite-as-friendly laugh at the end. He never really liked me, and it gets worse when Amata and I want to spend time together. I slipped on the pip boy and tightened it to a comfortable fit with the straps, and it auto-adjusted the internal components and fittings to finish up the equipping. I guess I'll take the time to get a good look over it later.

"You're only ten once, so please enjoy your party, and I think I know a certain someone who worked harder than anyone else to have this done for you," Dad said with a quick back glance at Amata and a wink, which made my face feel a little warm.

Our eyes locked and she stepped forward smiling, "Happy Birthday Hayden! Did we manage to surprise you this time? Yeah, that's what I thought," finished Amata with a funny little smirk. "Your dad thought you would catch on, but I know that we could surprise you. Did you see the look on your face when you walked in?" Amata did a cute little giggle then said, "Priceless!" I looked at her joy filled face and said, "Thank you Amata, I didn't expect to get such a nice party. Thank you so much Amata for doing this, I really appreciate it." I looked at her smile even brighter as she begun, "You're welcome! But I wouldn't have been able to do much if it wasn't for everyone else here pitching in too, would you believe that we made Butch fetch the party hats from Storage?" We both laughed at that. "Hey, I got something for you, well two somethings, but you'll have to try to guess what the first something is first," Amata said with a shy giggle. I replied, "I'm not sure Amata, but since you got it for me I'd like it no matter what it is." Amata responded with a bit of a blush, "Oh, you!" She playfully pushed my shoulder, and then reached around behind her to grab something that must have been somehow tucked in her belt. "I got you this!" She held up with both hands something not often seen in the vault. "That's right, Grognak, Issue 14, and in better condition than any other comic book in the whole vault! Just for you!" She took it down and out of my face to hand it to me, which I felt completely amazed that one that looked this nice could even be found, as usually they're all torn up and missing pages or worse. Amata continued, "I looked everywhere for something that you'd like, and didn't find anything for the longest time, but I kept looking and I eventually went into my dad's old boxes and found it. I would have never guessed that he used to like comics! I guess everyone was at that age once," Amata finished with another smile, which faded a little after a moment. "Well I didn't mean to hold you up for so long. You can get back to 'mingling' with the rest of your guests. We can talk later, ok?" I thought while she was speaking, and caught her hand as she was turning away, "Wait for a second, you said that you had 'two somethings' for me. What was the second?" Amata blushed slightly again, and said, "We'll talk later. Happy birthday Hayden," and smiled. I let her go, but I was even more confused. Did she blush because later she wanted to give me a kiss...? Hell yeah! I turned around, trying to conceal my giddiness, to say hello to the rest of the people. I rolled the comic book carefully and stuck it in my belt.

I looked over to the Overseer, and decided, 'what the hell, he's closer.' I stepped up to him and he said, "I hope that you enjoy this little party of yours, Amata did a great deal of work for this to happen, she went so far as to nag me to nearly my whit's end, and then beg me to allow this, as we usually hold off any sort of celebration until the majority of the attendees have coinciding off-hours, and even then usually only on the weekends." He got an even more sourer face as he continued, "Amata seems to be quite fond of you, I guess." "Well, she did an absolutely wonderful job," I said, throwing my eyes back over the rest of the partygoers, "Though why did she have to go so far as to beg you before you let her do what she wanted? I would have been fine with waiting until it would have been more convenient, though forcing someone to the point of begging seems a bit… distasteful," I said cautiously. He said, "The fact that Amata is my daughter does not change the fact that I am the Overseer, and as such I will give little leeway to her, let alone you. I gave her what was required from me as a parent, but I could not waste our precious resources on something as frivolous as your birthday party. My position as the Overseer requires me to not look over something like the waste of resources where they could be used elsewhere with better effect. I'm sure Amata understands this perfectly," the Overseer said with a bit of a self-righteous air. I didn't feel the inclination to reply.

I turned my head and smiled towards Old Lady Palmer, the ancient woman that posed mostly as the sweet old grandmother to most of the children of the vault, as she had none of her own. She smiled as she said, "Hello there Hayden, is the party up to snuff?" She laughed slowly and lightly before continuing, "Ten years old, and already so tall. My goodness, it seems like only yesterday that you and your dad came… Oh dear, here I am rambling on and on when you are here waiting for your present." I decided to be nice to her like normal and said, "You shouldn't feel required to get me a present, Mrs. Palmer." "Balderdash! There never was a ten year old that didn't want a present for his or her birthday! Even I was young like you once upon a time, though how it's changed since back then. We used the lower levels then, and we still were a bit stuffed even after that. It's so different today, what with so few people in the newer generations, but there I go again, rambling on and on, and you standing there listening to every word like a good little gentleman. Here you go! I baked this sweetroll for you this morning," She took something wrapped up in thin plastic off her lap, where she apparently had been quietly hiding it from view, "And just for you, you don't need to be sharing this with anyone for today." I smiled and said thank you as I tucked it in my front pocket, reminding myself to be careful so it doesn't smoosh.

I deliberately ignored the snide comments coming from Butch and Wally. But as fate would have it, Butch popped up out of his seat and started polluting the vault with his voice once again, a thought that made it hard to hold back laughing in his face as he kept complaining to my face with his loud and annoying voice, "I'm hungry and the dumb robot went and destroyed the cake! Give me what the old lady gave you, I want that sweet roll!" A blunt 'no', was my first thought, but then I decided I'd spend the energy and be slightly creative, just for him. "Butch, how's about I don't give you my sweetroll, I do tell you to get out of my face, and then we all get back to my birthday party and have a nice time?" Butch paused for a moment to think of a comeback, "Oh yeah? Well we'll see about that!" Butch went to hit me and I ducked. I kicked out and hit his shin, knocking him back on his ass as it imbalanced him after his leg was moved out from under him. Apparently everyone took notice of the situation as soon as Butch started the fight, so it must not have looked like I randomly started beating him up, as Officer Gomez came over to reprimand Butch and apologize in his stead, which I acknowledged with a simple nod.

I looked over to Paul, who came up with a bit of a shocked expression on his face. He said, "Oh, um, thanks for inviting me, I was kinda bored so you saved me there. Nice party by the way. Yeah, I know that uh, Butch and me give you a hard time sometimes but don't take it too seriously, it's just Butch and you know. But happy birthday and everything, so um, see ya later, and, yeah," Paul finished a bit lamely. At least he's not completely hopeless. He turned back to walk to the seat he was in a minute ago.

Amata came over to me looking flustered and annoyed as she said, "What's wrong with him? I can hardly believe someone would do that to you on your birthday! Starting a fight with you! He deserved you knocking him on his butt. What a dunderhead." I replied, "Yeah, he started it over me basically telling him 'no' after he demanded I give him the sweetroll that Old Lady Palmer gave me as a present. He's lucky Gomez got a hold of him before he got himself some lasting injuries from trying to continue the fight," I said with a little huff, still a bit annoyed even though I'm now getting attention by Amata. She said, "Man, he really is a worthless idiot. I guess that's all you ever can expect from that ass." We both laughed. She smiled and walked past me, reminding me that I still had people to greet.

I looked off towards the seats by the window and saw Officer Gomez sipping on something, so I walked up to him. He said to me, "I hope that you didn't get hurt, that dumb boy is so full of himself. Tell me what that all was about, ok?" I said, "He was demanding that I give him the present I got from Mrs. Palmer, and I told him that I wasn't going to give him my present, and that he should get back to enjoying the party." Gomez's voice took on an angry tone as he said, "I knew it, that little bugger is always starting stuff. There has been no reprieve from his mischievous attitude since he was born. I'll take care of it, but stay out of the way, ok boy?" I nodded and backed away.

I looked back and saw Amata talking with someone, so I walked up to the counter to say hello to Andy, as I've always liked electronics, robots not excluded. He went on with his funny sounding butler tone about how he's 'mortified' that he messed up my birthday cake, something I barely even noticed until now. "It's ok Andy; it's not a big deal." I turned behind me and decided to continue ignoring the idiocy coming from that particular table and walked around so I could talk to Dad's friend Stanley. He saw me and said, "How's the PipBoy son? Do you need help fitting it on?" I said, "It's really cool. It's an older model though, right? Wally was saying something about it being a piece of junk, though anything coming from him usually doesn't mean much." He replied, "Don't you worry about it. I kept that one reserved just for you. The A series is a bit basic in the controls so it'll take some working to get some things done with it, but it's one of the most reliable ones we have in the vault. It's a bit heavy too, but you should still have no real trouble with it, likely ever," He said with a smile. "Thanks Stanley, I really appreciate you going out of your way to get me this." He replied, "Not a problem, and happy birthday. And yes, I've also got this for you, I hope you like it." Stanley pulled out a rolled up prewar baseball cap and handed it to me. It was in great condition, and I thanked him as I slipped it on.

I looked around and saw Amata sitting alone in a two-seater booth, so I walked over and slipped in the other seat facing her. "Well? What was that second present," I asked with a wolf's grin. Amata smirked and said, "Not until the party is over." I laughed a little at her playful tone. And saw Dad getting up and heading for the exit. "Well, I guess it's nearing the end, so I'll catch back up with you, ok?" I said with a toothy grin. "Sure," was all she said. I slowly got up, a little put off as I was by her sudden mood change, walked by her still sitting in the booth and was caught by surprise as she had a hold of my hand, so I turned around and saw her standing behind me holding onto my hand with both of hers, which she quickly pulled back behind her. She had a pained expression on her face, which immediately caused mine to be covered in worry. I asked her, "Amata?" She let her face relax and she sighed. Then after a moment with her eyes closed, she said, "Sure! We'll talk later. Now go see what's up with your dad and come meet me back here so we can go off and talk some more without anyone, like Butch, bothering us." Amata smiled and said, "Well, get going," and gave me another playful push on my shoulder. Reassured, I smiled back and turned to follow where my dad went.

He was waiting for me, watching with a smirk on his face until I walked up to him. "What?" was what I said. He shook his head and ruffled my short chocolate colored hair. He said, "I had Jonas on the intercom, and we both have been working on a little project just for you. He's waiting for you on the Reactor Level. You go to him, nobody except Amata it seems will notice that you're gone for a few minutes." I said with a bit of embarrassment, "Aww, Dad," but walked out after turning around at the door to give Amata a small wave, which she returned.

Just outside the door I ran into Ms. Beatrice and she began saying, "Happy birthday young man! Oh my, I hope I'm not late for your party." I replied, "Amata and Dad went out of their way to throw this party for me, it's great." She then said, "I'm sure that they did! Amazing how time flies, it seems like only a few moments have gone by since I was helping out with your diapers. And here you are! So much more mature and strong and you even have your own PipBoy too! And since it's such a special time for you, I made you a poem! I hope you think it's good." She handed me a small piece of paper with curly writing on it, which I accepted and put in my pocket. "Thank you Ms. Beatrice, I really appreciate it." She replied, "Now have a good time dearie, and have a glorious day." She walked off, and I continued out of the cafeteria.

Then the Overseer walked past me, so I decided to follow him, just to see what he was up to now. He continued to walk without noticing me, and he headed up the stairs to the Upper Level. He rounded the turn and continued to head up. He then was addressed by the guard on duty, "Did you enjoy that party, Overseer?" The Overseer replied in a disgusted tone, "Bah! The only reason I bothered with it is because Amata begged me to come to her little brat friend's party. I want it over and everything back to how it should be in a few minutes." The guard replied, "Yes, sir." The Overseer continued forward and the guard, Officer Kendall, continued forward. He walked past me whistling a nice tune, oblivious to anything that didn't pretain in the most immediate way to his current duty. I turned around and ran past him down to the Reactor Level and up to Jonas.

"What are you doing down here, Hayden? Children are not allowed in the Reactor Level." I replied, "Well, Dad said you were waiting for me, so I just assumed that means you yourself allowed me down here," I said with a bit of confusion. He laughed and said, "Relax! I was only teasing you a bit. Now that you're a young man, you don't have to simply take every little thing that grown ups dish out anymore, ok?" He laughed again. "Just wait another minute; I'm sure your dad will want to show you the surprise himself." I turned around and saw Dad walking down the stairs. He went up to me and asked, "You ready for that surprise, Hayden?" I asked, "What kind of surprise do you have in mind?" "Well, since the Overseer sees that you're old enough to get that PipBoy, he sees that you're old enough for some work. And I see that since you're old enough for some work, you're old enough for this. Jonas and I worked to get you this; your very own BB gun! It's got a few scavenged parts, but it should work just fine without any problems. Jonas found it, and it was in a state of disrepair at the time, but we both worked for a few months to get it into a better condition. What it finally came down to was that we needed a tiny spring, and it just so happened that Butch's 'misplaced' switch blade had one of the right size. Well, let's give it a go." Dad handed over the BB gun and a small box of BBs to me, and I said with a smile, "Neat! Thanks a lot. So, what do I get to shoot?" Dad said, "Easy now, son. It's not a toy, you can still hurt people with that and that's not what it's for. Now we can go try it out; Jonas and I have set up a spot for you to practice with it. Let's go." We walked through a hatch into another room.

"Well son, what do you think of this," Dad said gesturing to the metal contraptions. "You can come down here any time you want and practice with that gun." "This is so cool Dad! Thank you!" "Be sure to say thank you to Jonas too; it wouldn't have been possible without him." I turned towards Jonas, and he said, "I hope you've had a happy birthday, Hayden, I hope you have some safe fun with that." "Thank you Jonas, I really appreciate it, and no, I won't go shooting people," I said with a laugh. He smiled and gestured back towards the targets.

I discovered that there was room for twelve tiny brass BBs in the gun, and the BB box had about 100 BBs in it, so I decided to be sure to keep every BB accounted for from the beginning so that I'd never run out of them so long as I take the time to go searching for them after I use them. I crouched down on my knee and took aim, the targets weren't all that far, and the little metal tab at the end of the barrel was straight, so it wasn't hard to hit each target with only a single shot each on the first try. I must be a pretty good shot, I thought to myself with a bit of glee. Just then a Radroach popped up and Dad began saying something about it, but I had already shot it in its head twice, killing it. I heard Dad walking up behind me, so I turned to hear him say, "Great work son! That's one less of the pests for us to deal with. Lets get ourselves a picture together, so we can have this moment captured, my boy," He turned around to Jonas and said, "Hey Jonas, take a picture of me and the little sportsman." I walked up beside him and shouldered the gun. "Smile," said Jonas, as he pulled out his bulky camera. Then the blinding amount of light was back.

_A/N: Well? How did you guys/gals like it? I based it largely around the actual game/storyline, though there will be more deviations later on, like in the next chapter. And sorry it took so long to get this finally up, but I've only just had a full day of nothing to prepare me to do this, so busy... But yes, I'd like to ask everyone who would like to, to give me any pointers, advice, or what have you, so that I can do this better. Edited 7/7/10 b/c I finally got the internet up and I wanted to do this since I posted this chapter and noticed more errors. Never perfect, but improving._

~Nao's Fody-kun


End file.
